Wheelz...

I dont know about wheelz, but I do 10"-12" browns in my Smokette. They turn out great!

I butterfly fillet them with the head & tail still intact.

Brine them for about 2-3 hours in a simple brine that includes salt, brown sugar, garlic cloves, whole black pepper corns, and bay leaves.(Sorry, dont have amounts of each on hand right now.)

Take out of the brine and rinse thouroughly. Pat dry and let it sit until the flesh is tacky to the touch.

Place the fish on the racks. I prop the fillets open with tooth picks so smoke can get in between them.

I use 1 chunk of hickory or apple. Set the smoker at 200 and hot smoke for between 1 1/2 and 2 hours. Check sooner though. Say like after an hour. Thickness of fillets will determine time.

When you take them out carefully pat the white "milk" that has formed on the fillet, wrap each fish in foil and put in the refrigerator. I think they are best when cold.

arkansasQer - Nope, never smoker trout. We lived in Heber for 25 years. Been in Searcy for about 2 years. Little Red is some of the best trout fishing around. I'll never forget when Rip Collins landed his world record 40+ lb brown trout. Got some dandy rainbows there too. Try coming from October thru April... 95% of the tourists are back where the belong

Yeah, I know about the visitors this time of year. I've been going to (Bill) Lindsey's resort for over 30 years and have watched 3 generations grow up and take over the business.

A little trick I learned many years ago....not many folks are willing to wade the cold water, so I get out and pull my boat up over the shoals and into water where nobody else can go except folks that live along that stretch of river. Much quieter water and not nearly as many weekend boaters.

Geiyser...thanks for the heads-up, sounds like something I'll try.

I fished there a few times back when I live in Arkansas. Now I live in trout country. Trout aren't my favorite eating fish, but a light smoke goes a long way to making them taste great.

I usually marinate mine for a few hours in a mixture of soy sauce, pineapple juice, brown sugar, garlic, and black pepper. Then smoke.

Or for quick prep just fillet and rub with a mild rub. Then smoke.

D-UT...

Where are you now that you�re in �trout country�? Actually, trout aren�t my favorite eating fish either...fried (instant daily allowable dosage of cholesterol) catfish ranks high on my fresh water fish list. Probably just ought to start a slow-drip IV of cholesterol and forego the catfish, but they taste so good. I�m hoping I�ll like the smoked trout. Your marinate sounds interesting, I may do half your way and half in the brine �Geiyser� mentioned above.

By the way, Geiyser, we have a slot limit here in Arkansas. Those 10-12� �browns� would have to be caught and released here. You can keep the smallish rainbows but they take their �browns� very seriously here. The Little Red River below Greer�s Ferry Dam and The White River below Bull Shoals dam play ping-pong with the world record �brown�. Currently, the record is held by The Little Red at something over 40 lbs, so, as I say, they�re very careful with their brown trout population.

arkansasQer

arkansasQer,

I hear what you're saying about the slot limit, but where I fish for these it is on a "put and take" basis. There are very few rivers and lakes in Ohio that arent stocked except for the rivers that empty into Lake Erie.

Mainly the state does it for the kids. I usually wait a week until all the tykes loos interest and then I fish for them like panfish. I am meat fishing only.Never endevoured fly fishing before.